HISTORY 615, Section 008 Prof. GADDIS
Late Antiquity: The "Decline and Fall" of the Roman Empire
(Graduate Section of HST 354)
It has been two hundred years since Edward Gibbon spoke so eloquently of the "decline and fall of the Roman Empire" and the "triumph of barbarism and religion." Scholarship in recent decades has revolutionized our understanding of what we now call Late Antiquity, an exuberant age midway between Ancient and Medieval worlds, characterized not by "decline" but rather by profound religious, political and cultural vitality and transformation. The course will focus on the Roman Empire and its neighbors in the Mediterranean world from the third through seventh centuries AD. Late Antiquity was an era in which people came increasingly to define their identity in exclusively religious terms, and as such it can be said to begin with Christianity’s rise to political power, and end with the coming of Islam – developments which continue to shape the cultural and political contours of Europe and the Middle East to this day.
This course offers a comprehensive survey, taking in political, social, economic and cultural history, with a particular emphasis on religious developments. Topics will include the conflict between paganism and Christianity; Constantine’s conversion; the transformation of classical culture; Rome and the barbarians; the military collapse of the western empire; asceticism and monasticism; women in late antiquity; the origins of Islam. We will take a multicultural perspective, going beyond the traditional focus on Greco-Roman elites to include other cultures such as Coptic Egyptian, Syriac, Persian, North African, and the "barbarian" Europeans. Much attention will be given to the reading, interpretation and discussion of primary sources.
Graduate Students: Please introduce yourself to Prof. Gaddis on the first day of class to discuss special requirements.